Posted by Staci Lefel
Stories
Sunrise Rotary Minutes July 31, 2019
Guests:
Katja:  Today’s speakers from Ilusion
Birthdays:  Deb
Anniversaries:
Staci and Jeff – 2 years on July 26th
Jim – 4 years + 1 with the Noon Club
Announcements:
Jim - Board Meeting at the American Legion on August 1st @ 7:15 AM
Katja - Suggested the website be updated with list of speakers, Tom volunteered to add a list to the website. She has an idea for a New Year’s Eve Rotary event and would like to meet with those interested in helping after the meeting.
Josh T - Let us know that Groundworks is moving from South Main Street to the old Dominoes building on Canal Street. They’re looking for volunteers to help with the move – 2 hour shifts on Wed, Thursday and Friday of next week (August 7th, 8th & 9th).
Deb – Requested volunteers to help with the Rotary gardens. She will be there Sunday @ 9:00 and will send around a sign-up list for those that can help.
Mona - Announced that the “Load the Latchis” event for the Drop-In Center is on August 22nd. She will be delivering donations on the day of the event if people can bring them to Rotary before then.
Sadie - Reminded everyone to record their community service hours on her send-around sheet.  Also announced that Mona is going to join her in organizing community service activities.
Will - Would like to reconsider a 1X per month exercise/social Rotary Romp at the Marina. Could we resume the 1st Monday of every month timeslot?
Cards: 6 of hearts in the deck for 6 million
Brags:
Damon – Took a great 2-week family trip to France to celebrate Aiden’s graduation and Damon’s 50th birthday. Rented Pat Howe’s place in the South of France and it was a beautiful area to hike and run. Also went to Paris and drove 2200 miles with no accidents!
 
Rich – Brag 1: Bragged for youngest daughter Meagan’s  second  year at St. Joseph’s College where she received the honor of being the only Sophomore to earn an RA position;  Brag 2: For the 52nd anniversary of his brother Patrick’s passing at the age of 19 while serving in Vietnam;  Brag 3: For new baby Noah Patrick Wilson.
John S – Found a 17th century house in Hungary through the home exchange program. He spent a few days in Dublin before meeting up with the rest of the family in Budapest before driving to the house in Hungary. They were able to take a Segway tour around Budapest since his daughter finally weighs enough to operate one!  He and the family also helped the local medical tourism industry by having their teeth examined. Apparently that’s a thing that they do.
Tom – Running brag for his kids on the Fun Run – both tied for 2nd with the same time.
Michelle – Her daughter Caroline was taking the 3rd session of the Bar exam while we met.
Josh T – Brag for our club, especially Ed and the great work he did at Josh’s house. Who knew Ed could be both competent AND professional? Also expressed thanks for the Paul Harris award.
Kevin – Spent time with his FIL on his 89th birthday. They made the rounds at the local clubs (he’s a member of the Elks, Legion, VFW & others) before having dinner at the Ninety-Nine restaurant and ending the evening at the American Legion.
Deb – Gave a shout-out to Dan for making her birthday special by taking her to a bike shop for a bike trip with her daughters in lieu of a party.
Marci – Announced that her daughters did well in the Rutland swim season championships.
Jim – Had a great time in Scotland; Cindy will be covering for him as president while he travels more in August; Also bragged for the money we raised at the Visitor’s Center event.
Guest speakers:
-Ilusion and Rod spoke about a social Entrepreneurship opportunity organization they helped establish in Guatemala. 
-Originally developed to help the thousands of people whose only source of income was combing through the local dump for recyclable items. Women often had to bring their children so one of the first services they offered was to take care of the children while their parents (usually mothers) worked. Was able to use a church for child-care services and eventually 4 kids turned into 550 kids.
-Turned from a daycare to a full-fledged school with students from Kindergarten through High School. They were able to provide meals and clothes to the school children so the organization became much better than the local Guatemalan school system.
-Eventually the mothers also wanted an education so they developed an adult literacy program. Adults could listen to national educational programs on the radio and take tests at a local facility. But even though they were learning to read and write, the women still had difficulties finding employment because of their age.
-Soon a social entrepreneurship initiative under the name of Creamos developed. Creamos had a mission of improving the lives of families. They were able to train mothers to sew and make jewelry with paper beads. This turned into a store which now provides an income to its workers.
-The store was established in 2008 and has a website: www.creamosfuturos.com
-Creamos offers other services such as emotional support, exercise sessions, domestic violence support groups and financial literacy classes. The financial planning services encouraged women to save by providing $10 for every $50 saved.
-The organization started with donations and then came under the umbrella of Safe Passage.